[unpaid/sample] ‘Stress’ pens are everywhere but this one arrived with an accompanying book (a best seller, apparently) that pairs the idea of stress pens and breathwork. I see a lot of press releases about general relaxing with aromatherapy but I think this is the first time I’ve seen it put in a specific context like this. People swear by breathwork – I do a bit of it in yoga and it’s always lovely and I have a family member who does it literally every day and swears by it. It makes complete sense to combine a breathwork session with aromas that give you olfactory peace as well as giving it more of a ritual element.
I haven’t read this book, but I do know that it’s not as easy as suggested to just ‘relax’. You need some signalling that’s meaningful and puts you in the right zone for it. When I get on my yoga mat and the music comes on, I am in the zone. I’ve come to associate those two actions, placing and listening, with down time and my body knows that it is ready. Yoga is really hard by the way – I wish I hadn’t spent so many years thinking it was just wafting about on a fancy mat – I love the strength it requires and brings but most of all I love following the instructions. An hour without having to make a single decision or think for myself is just perfect.
I know that Gill at Victoria Health swears by the Poppy Delbridge Tapping technique which is another way of centring and reducing stress so I should think adding an olfactory element to that would be just as helpful to move you into the zone. The NEOM Calming Pen is lavender, chamomile, sweet orange, valerian and marjoram, the latter of which gives the aromatherapy blend a bit of a sharpness. It’s £20 HERE with £5 going to The Mental Health Foundation which sits well with me given that MH services are one of the hardest to access – anything we can do to help ourselves is so important. Remember that whatever you do, tapping, breathwork, yoga or others, it takes time for your brain and body to meet each other on it. Keep going and it will come.
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